British GT 2023

[JoeW04]

Superb first race

[Badlands99]

Wet second race, but Marciello & Gounon in a class of their own.
Probably the two best GT3 drivers on the planet at the moment.

[Lancsbreaker]

Just watched the youtube coverage of the races......some excellent racing in very trying conditions

[chunterer]

Great racing, enjoyed it, possibly bit more at home in the dry, than what looked like a huge turnout of hardy souls wbo got soaked at the circuit.

First race was a belter and the second provided a good lesson from a couple of pro's and am's of how to drive in very tricky conditions!

I thought Clutton was the star of GT3 in race one and loved the Mustang finishing 1-2 in GT4!!

Move of the weekend must be have been Andrew Howard's double pass into Old Hall!!

[skycafe]

Just finished watching both races. I really enjoyed the races and Oulton looks like a nice track to visit

I really like the Garage 59 McLaren livery as well as the Beechdean Aston.

I'm hooked

[coppice]

Enjoyed it despite - or maybe because of ? - the weather . Some very skilled driving on show in very tricky conditions . Very big crowd too - a shame their day was spoiled by safety car nonsenses in several races .

Livery of cars was as hilariously awful as ever , with the randomly applied splashes of colour which seems compulsory . Guys - just look at a Parmalat Brabham, JPS 72 , nearly any Martini sponsored car etc and learn ...

[andrewn7]

It was a great weekend, with fantastic racing in the trickiest of conditions. Seeing Gounon and Rafa going at it 100% is a memory to treasure

https://twitter.com/jamboree7/status...641069058?s=19

Little vid in the link above...

[Speed-King]

With 18 cars in GT3 and GT4 each, is it time to separate the two classes at least for the 1h races and at tight circuits like Oulton and Brands Hatch?

[coppice]

Er..no . I get enough of small grids in other series and traffic adds some spice. GT racing at Oulton has a long and glorious history and has featured huge grids
of diverse machinery

[dwh43scale]

https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjAzhe1 - some initial shots to give a flavour of yesterday. Cracking couple of races, but need to see them on the TV rather through the viewfinder now to see what actually happened ! Rain really does give some different and interesting images.

[BertMk2]

Originally Posted by dwh43scale

https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjAzhe1 - some initial shots to give a flavour of yesterday. Cracking couple of races, but need to see them on the TV rather through the viewfinder now to see what actually happened ! Rain really does give some different and interesting images.

Agreed on all counts - sometimes it's hard to keep track of exactly what's going on when you're trackside. Also the rain does add something to photos - some of my favourite shots have been in terrible weather.

[chunterer]

Originally Posted by coppice

Er..no . I get enough of small grids in other series and traffic adds some spice. GT racing at Oulton has a long and glorious history and has featured huge grids
of diverse machinery

100pc agree with you...

[Bcarr6]

Absolutely do not separate the GT3 and GT4 classes into their own races!!

A huge part of the fun trackside and on TV for the British GT is the multi class racing, leaders fighting through traffic, you can be 5 seconds in the lead and throw it all away if you don't handle one bit of traffic well.

GTWC lost a lot of that charm when it went to GT3 only format with GT4 America as a support race.

[Woolley]

Originally Posted by Bcarr6

Absolutely do not separate the GT3 and GT4 classes into their own races!!

Agreed, the thing that separates sportscars from everything else is multiple classes. Long may that prevail.

And considering that, and the weather and one of the more difficult circuits I thought the driving standards were exceptional. Very little contact, very few offs. Other categories racing on the day were in stark contrast.

[Truckosaurus]

Splitting GT4 out would kill off the class (what's the point if you are not in The Big Race).

If you could drum up 30+ GT3 cars then that would make up for it, but we're a long way from that point.

(Plus the multi-class thing adding spice and being a pathway to the top class etc)

[Badlands99]

Totally agree! Do not split the classes! This years grid is the best for ages - possibly best ever with Marciello and Gounon, showing the up and coming guys just how it is done.
This is part of what makes BGT so good - unpredictable traffic, speed/driver ability differential and the number of different cars on track.
Age old thing ...... if it ain't broke, don't try to fix it.

[Truckosaurus]

Whilst I sometimes think it unsporting for teams at the national level to hire world class talents, it does provide good entertainment and hopefully gives a boost to the less well known pros who can make a name for themselves by beating the 'star drivers' on track.

[coppice]

It happens far less now than in the past. In my early days of watching the equivalent of last weekend's meeting it was routine to encounter an F1 driver and/or renowned sports car ace. The first race I saw at Oulton was won by the reigning WDC and featured at last five other drivers who had raced in F1 or were to do so in the near future . I am not overfussed about how sporting this might seem- I watch motor racing primarily to see very fast cars racing and being driven at the limit, as fast as they will go . I rarely care who wins.
b

[Badlands99]

Originally Posted by coppice

I watch motor racing primarily to see very fast cars racing and being driven at the limit, as fast as they will go.
b

Absolutely agree with this.
Watched Marciello last year at Brands Hatch, in the Fanatec Sprint series, destroy the rest of the field with some of the most precise driving of a GT3 car I have witnessed - lap after lap pulling away from the rest of the Pro field by a second a lap plus.
Who wouldn't want the opportunity to see a driver of this caliber performing in the UK and giving the other Pros in the field and all of the amateurs something to aim at.
I wouldn't necessarily want to see him and Gounon in the same car run away and hide every race, but the fact that they are partnered with some very good Am's makes for some spectacular racing.

[dwh43scale]

Originally Posted by dwh43scale

https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjAzhe1 - some initial shots to give a flavour of yesterday. Cracking couple of races, but need to see them on the TV rather through the viewfinder now to see what actually happened ! Rain really does give some different and interesting images.

Full gallery up at link above

[coppice]

I think some of the issue about bringing in high class drivers relates to the fact that TV motorsport works almost entirely on the basis of concentrating on who is winning, and what the 'battles' are for the top places. It does this even if nobody has heard of the drivers , or cares about who wins because TV relies on jeopardy and risk to keep a fickle audience tuned in . It creates even more bait for the viewer by bombarding him or her with endless numbers - gaps , lap times, pit stop times etc. The one thing TV can't do is to show the sheer visceral thrill of being close to a racing car driven at speed ; it cant begin to portray this , nor the noise or even smell.

Being there live is totally different - nobody is deciding what image I can see , what car I should watch (my favourite may be running last ) or from what angle. I may only have small investment in caring about who wins, and unless I study TSL closely I can lose track of who is where . But so what ? I'm in the fresh air, in the company of kindred spirits and I'm enjoying the visual and aural assault of close proximity to a racing car in full cry.

[dwh43scale]

Originally Posted by coppice

Being there live is totally different - nobody is deciding what image I can see , what car I should watch (my favourite may be running last ) or from what angle. I may only have small investment in caring about who wins, and unless I study TSL closely I can lose track of who is where . But so what ? I'm in the fresh air, in the company of kindred spirits and I'm enjoying the visual and aural assault of close proximity to a racing car in full cry.

Well put - and Oulton Park is a particular example of where you can be particularly close to the action.

[LC2guy]

43 Cars for Silverstone 500 this weekend, with 24 GT3's entered.

https://www.britishgt.com/images/res...01.05.2023.pdf

[Alfaholic]

Originally Posted by LC2guy

43 Cars for Silverstone 500 this weekend, with 24 GT3's entered.

https://www.britishgt.com/images/res...01.05.2023.pdf

A bit of a disjointed race with the safety cars, but it did set up an interesting last 30 minutes or so after the last one.

Also it was good to finally get to see some racing in warm AND dry condiutions for the first time this year, and a decent sized crowd to boot.

[dwh43scale]

Originally Posted by Alfaholic

Also it was good to finally get to see some racing in warm AND dry condiutions for the first time this year, and a decent sized crowd to boot.

Shared a weekend ticket with my lad and got the Saturday (my choice actually) - love shooting in the rain - see what you think ... https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjACJ1D